German police say they shot a “suspicious” man who reportedly fired shots in central Munich near a museum dedicated to the National Socialist era – and the Israeli general consulate. The man died at the scene after being shot while exchanging fire with police, the interior minister for the German state of Bavaria said.
Shots were heard just after 9am in the Karolinenplatz area. Police confirmed that an officer shot the armed man.
Police are seeking no other suspects. The surrounding area in central Munich has been cordoned off and residents and office workers told to remain indoors. Others have been warned on social media to avoid the area.
Local residents reported a large-scale operation at about 9am involving special forces and a police helicopter. A local resident told the Munich-based Süddeutsche Zeitung she had heard gunshots, police sirens and shouts of “Run! Run!”
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The Briennerstrasse area of central Munich, where the shots were fired, is a historically laden area of the Bavarian capital.
The city was viewed by the Nazis as the “centre of the movement” and the National Socialist Documentation Centre was opened in 2015 on the site of the so-called “Brown House”, the former Nazi party headquarters.
This entire district was filled with party organisation and the streetscape still has many intact Nazi-era buildings.
The documentation centre has a round-the-clock police guard, as does the adjacent consulate – in addition to Israeli security detail.
Speculation is growing in Munich about a link to the attacks on the Munich Olympics, on this day in 1972, when a Palestinian terror group took hostages in the Israeli team headquarters. In total 11 Israelis died, as well as a German police officer, in a failed rescue operation at a nearby airbase.
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